TMM - A Brief History (in Banner Form)

A while ago someone mentioned that I should do a post with all of the banners I've used on the site. While I think it's a great idea, at first I thought it might seem a tad masturbatory and self-indulgent - sort of like I was patting myself on the back or something. Not sure how exactly, it just felt a bit cocky. Perhaps, but I thought it would be fun, since I have changed the banner several times since I started (I'd even forgotten some of these), so here are the banners of yesteryear (and a half).

The very first banner of The Manchester Morgue. While I think the idea of Bub the Zombie listening to music on headphones works perfectly for the site, I gotta say it wasn't a particularly eye-catching design. Maybe if I had used Bub in a different way, with a better font, and gotten rid of that insipid little white dot about an inch under the logo, it would've been better off. But I was very new at the whole concept of designing things, so I guess I can't be too hard on it.

I don't really have anything to say on this one. I love the artwork I found for it (can't remember the movie it was from) but it's just sort of thrown up there, with a seemingly randomly located logo. It's so-so.

One of my favorite examples of a movie poster that is way better than the film it advertised, Astro Zombies. I think this one was a step in the right direction. I also changed the template for the site, which I think makes it look more professional. Unfortunately I had a weird line down the middle of the page that it took me a while to fix. Man, I hated that line. And here it is again. Haunting me.

Nothing much to say about this one, just experimenting with different brushes, kinda liked it, so I used it. At least I got rid of that line.

My attempt at mixing Frankenhooker art with the font used for The Godfather didn't quite work out. I still love that poster art though. I'll have framed versions of that poster and the Astro Zombies poster hanging up somewhere in my house once I move. Or I'll die trying. And that picture of Steve Martin on the Grand Canyon cover still cracks me up.

This one was barely on the site before I changed it. The art is from the New Zealand sheep-run-amok film Black Sheep. I liked the movie (sheep fart jokes aside) so I wanted to advertise it's brief US theatrical run on the site. This also marks the first appearance of the Shaun of the Dead font that I've used on other banners and several of my compilations since. Hell of a font, that.

Taking the Shaun of the Dead thing a step further on this one by using not only the font, but Shaun poster art as well. I thought this one was pretty fitting, British corpses, Manchester Morgue...

And that brings us up to the current banner. Sure, you could just hit Home and shoot back up to the top of the page and see it, but I'll save you the trouble. Using the top half of a Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell poster, my trusty SOTD font and some root brush I found online somewhere (whoever made that, thank you, I forgot where I found it) I whipped up what I think is my personal favorite. I'm probably sticking with this one for a while since I've actually gotten a few compliments on it. Also, changing them up is a major pain in the ass.

Well, I think that's it. I could've sworn I had a few more that I had used, but I don't see them saved in my archives anywhere, so I guess that's all. I hope you've all enjoyed this brief, occasionally bad design work filled visual history of the site. If all goes according to plan I should have something Michael J. Nelson-ey in store for you guys this weekend. I'll see you then. But not really.